| Scoreboard |  |
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| Total Viewers (million) | 13.37 | 12.30 | 6.43 | 6.34 | 4.27 | 3.42 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 4.3/11 | 3.5/9 | 2.3/6 | 1.9/5 | 1.7/4 | 1.6/4 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-34 | 3.6/10 | 2.1/6 | 2.1/6 | 1.5/4 | 1.9/5 | 1.9/5 |
Please note that the above averages and hourly data for Fox only represent the Fox programming from 8pm-10pm and do not include any portion of the World Series after 10pm. Due to this, it’s hard to really opine on the World Series data since almost half of it is missing. But we’re sure we’ll see the full numbers for the game either later today or tomorrow. Live events always change from the overnight ratings, but this will change more. But for the two hour 8pm-10pm portion, it averaged 13.37 million, a 4.3/11(rating/share) among 18-49 year olds and a 3.6/10 among 18-34 year olds. Update: according to Fox, the full game averaged 14.6 million viewers (still based on fast national, not final data)
Meanwhile Pushing Daisies fast affiliate household rating was a 3.8/6, drawing 5.67 million viewers and a 1.9/5 among 18-49 year olds. In last week’s fast affiliate data, PD had a 4.4/7 household , and reached 6.29 million. It’s demo numbers were about the same as last night. I think we can go ahead and call that this show is done, finished, toast. Canceled. It’s performance was worse than Knight Rider (7.23 million, 2.2/6 among 18-49 year olds).
Things don’t look great for Dirty Sexy Money either, with 6.112 million viewers, but it at least cracked the 2.0 mark among 18-49 year olds with a 2.1/5. Nothing to put out a press release about, but at least those numbers are better than two weeks ago (last week it didn’t air due to the presidential debate) when it drew 5.946 million and a 2.0/5 among 18-49 year olds.
Sorry folks, DSM had 5.856 million and a 2.0/5 among 18-49 year olds. Not good news. I had three fast affiliate results for the last 3 Wednesdays up on my screen, and coupled with a massive head cold, looked at the wrong data several times (see below for more scratch-outs). The data table below should be correct.
Criminal Minds was the night’s most-watched program with 15.896 14.715 million followed very closely by the show that aired after it, CSI: NY with 15.855 14.241 million. (sorry about that, those were the most watched shows, but I was looking at the wrong data. Whoops!)
The premiere of Stylista will not likely motivate much spin from the CW., and NBC’s Lipstick Jungle is tanking at 10pm. Update: The CW reached into the 2007 wayback machine, but did find some kind spin for Stylista.
Full details:
| Time | Net | Show | Viewers (Millons) | 18-49 Rating/Share | 18-34 Rating/Share |
| 8:00 | FOX | World Series (Phillies vs. Rays) | 13.10 | 4.1/11 | 3.5/10 |
| CBS | The New Adventures of Old Christine | 8.01 | 2.4/7 | 1.5/5 | |
| NBC | Knight Rider | 7.23 | 2.2/6 | 1.7/5 | |
| ABC | Pushing Daisies | 5.67 | 1.9/5 | 1.7/5 | |
| UNI | Cuidado con el Angel | 4.74 | 1.9/5 | 2.2/7 | |
| CW | America’s Next Top Model | 4.38 | 2.1/6 | 2.4/7 | |
| 8:30 | CBS | Gary Unmarried | 7.85 | 2.5/7 | 1.5/5 |
| 9:00 | CBS | Criminal Minds | 14.72 | 4.0/10 | 2.3/6 |
| FOX | World Series (Phillies vs. Rays) | 13.64 | 4.4/11 | 3.7/10 | |
| ABC | Private Practice | 7.78 | 3.0/8 | 2.8/8 | |
| NBC | Deal or No Deal | 7.60 | 2.0/5 | 1.3/4 | |
| UNI | Fuego en la Sangre | 5.21 | 2.1/5 | 2.4/6 | |
| CW | Stylista (premiere) | 2.46 | 1.2/3 | 1.4/4 | |
| 10:00 | CBS | CSI: NY | 14.24 | 3.9/10 | 2.5/7 |
| ABC | Dirty Sexy Money | 5.86 | 2.0/5 | 1.6/4 | |
| NBC | Lipstick Jungle | 4.19 | 1.6/4 | 1.3/4 | |
| UNI | Don Francisco Presenta | 2.86 | 1.1/3 | 1.1/3 |
Shows are sorted by viewers in each time slot. Timeslot demo winners are in bold.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
Definitions:
Fast Affiliate Ratings: These first national ratings, including demographics, are available at approximately 11 AM (ET) the day after telecast, and are released to subscribing customers daily. These data, from the National People Meter sample, are strictly time-period information, based on the normal broadcast network feed, and include all programming on the affiliated stations, sometimes including network programming, sometimes not. The figures may include stations that did not air the entire network feed, as well as local news breaks or cutaways for local coverage or other programming. Fast Affiliate ratings are not as useful for live programs and are likely to differ significantly from the final results, because the data reflect normal broadcast feed patterns. For example, with a World Series game, Fast Affiliate Ratings would include whatever aired from 8-11PM on affiliates in the Pacific Time Zone, following the live football game, but not game coverage that begins at 5PM PT. The same would be true of Presidential debates as well as live award shows and breaking news reports.
Rating: Estimated percentage of the universe of TV households (or other specified group) tuned to a program in the average minute. Ratings are expressed as a percent.
Share (of Audience): The percent of households (or persons) using television who are tuned to a specific program, station or network in a specific area at a specific time. (See also, Rating, which represents tuning or viewing as a percent of the entire population being measured.)
Time Shifted Viewing – Program ratings for national sources are produced in three streams of data – Live, Live+Same Day (Live+SD) and Live+7 Day. Time shifted figures account for incremental viewing that takes place with DVRs which are currently in approximately 24.4% of all U.S. TV households. Live+Same Day (Live+SD) include viewing during the same broadcast day as the original telecast, with a cut-off of 3:00AM local time when meters transmit daily viewing to Nielsen for processing. Live+7 Day ratings include incremental viewing that takes place during the 7 days following a telecast.
For more information see Numbers 101.
Marc Berman says on PI that DSM got 5.86 million viewers and a 2.0 rating among adults 18-49 last night. I’ll be happier if your information is accurate (although neither is anything to write home about).
I see you also have 5.86 million for DSM in the chart now. Too bad for DSM. And that 18-34 rating looks awful, too. It dropped from 1.9 to 1.6. ABC should really test the show on Sunday nights after Desperate Housewives.
L.B, sadly it was Berman’s data that was right. I have it correct in the data table, and scratched out the errant prose above…
Yeah, your chart and your commentary don’t match up regarding DSM.
L.B., I don’t see the move happening. I agree the shows seemingly mesh together nicely, but Brothers & Sisters is doing pretty well Sundays at 10p. I don’t see ABC screwing around with that.
Hey Robert, will Knight Rider get a second season if it maintains these numbers? thnx
I also don’t see the move happening, but shouldn’t they at least try it once, as they did in the past with “Boston Legal”? I think DSM is a better fit out of DH than B&S, and it could at least match B&S’ 3.5 rating among adults 18-49. Its retention out of PP is always about 75-80%. B&S never gets more than 65% out of DH.
I think “Eli Stone” is a bigger loser than DSM, because the show gets a similar 18-49 rating, despite having a much stronger lead-in. Perhaps B&S would do well on Tuesdays at 10. It wouldn’t get a 3.5 rating anymore, but I think it would definitely do better than “Eli Stone.”
I would also make “Lost” the centerpiece of the Wednesday night line-up again come midseason (airing at 9pm). And perhaps “Life on Mars” would be a good lead-out at 10pm. That way PP could move to Thursdays at 10pm to lead-out of its parent series.
I think these moves would improve 18-49 results in all of these timeslots. The only question is whether DSM could match B&S on Sundays at 10pm.
KingM0f0, hard for me to say. It was down a little bit vs. last week, but since it’s primary audience success is young men, it actually held up well ok versus the baseball. I think at its current levels it boils down to two things I have no idea about: 1.) how important is the success with men 18-49 and men 18-34 to NBC, and 2.) how much is Ford paying NBC for the huge product placement every week.
with these kinds of numbers I’d normally say it wouldn’t be back, but depending on how valuable success w/young men and the Ford relationship are to NBC, maybe…
Hi Reobert. Can you make some comments on Old Christine and Private Practice? Old Christine increased in viewership fourth week in a row now, hitting a series high in both viewers and demos. This will surely push it up on your Cancellation Index!!
Private Practice increased viewers week on week, but its Demo numbers are the ones that improved extremely well!
Can you let me know the quarter hour data for both shows? Appreciate the help
did gary unmarried go up from last week?
King, we did get a bit more data about last week from other sources than we usually do and here are some numbers on Knight Rider:
Men 18-34: Tied for #23
Men 18-49: Tied for #32
Teens 12-17: Tied for #25
Compare that to its overall viewership rank for the week of #47, and you can see that it skews young and male.
The only regular shows last week that did better for NBC among men 18-34 were Heroes, Office and Sunday Night Football.
As Robert said, we don’t know how exactly valuable those young men are, but Knight Rider does over deliver them for NBC.
When you compare Knight Rider in the hour it airs, its performance with men 18-34 and 18-49 is even better. Often number one, but always number one or number two.
Tim, we have the archives here, click on “overnight” in the navigation above and scroll back to the results for last Wednesday. But Gary Unmarried was up a little over 100K vs. last week.
Dali, unfortunately we don’t see quarter hour data, only half hourly, so I can’t help you much. Next Wednesday I’ll hopefully be feeling better and will comment on Christine or Gary Unmarried. I don’t believe either is in as dire straits as Pushing Daisies which is why I didn’t focus on it… Since Private Practice has already been picked up for the full season, I didn’t focus on it either…
I wouldn’t get too excited about Ford, too. Ford will only continue to support the show if they see a bump in Ford vehicle sales. Given all the financial trouble Detroit is in… Who knows.
Was the product placement this bad in the first Knight Rider run? I swear, KITT has transformed into at least 3 other Ford products (Crown Vic, F150, and what I think is an Explorer) and into a race-car that I guess is a Ford race-car. And the only non-Ford vehicles you see on the streets are driven by the bad guys.
Boy, the networks are really being rocked hard this season. It’s not good when CW can compete with heavily promoted shows on ABC and NBC.
You don’t have the 18-34 numbers for KR for last week, as I would like to compare it with that 1.7 from this week. 1.7 seems really, really bad. Could you list the 18-34 numbers that you do have so far for the season? I wonder if the young men are jumping ship, leaving those older ones who remember the first KR, is the average, or whether 1.7 is a blip do to the World Series.
Andrea, the aggregate 18-34 for KR in last week’s fast affiliates (for 10/15) was 2.2/7 so it does appear MLB took a chunk out of it…
Robert:
Okay, that makes more sense.
Other than baseball, CBS is the only network that seems to manage over 10 million viewers per show on Wednesdays.
Pushing Daisies is definitely dead. It was novel when it came out but the novelty has clearly worn off. The bloom is off the daisy.
Foo man Chu… in addition to suffering all these low ratings for favorite shows everyone has to deal with… do we also have to live with bad puns?
if it weren’t for the strike… i think pd might have made it as a minimal success like betty… but stuff happens. oh well.
The CBS comedies are really growing. I know the first couple of weeks a lot of people were saying the hour was doomed, but now it’s not too bad. A few more tenths of a point in the demo and the new comedy hour will officially be a sucess.
Aside from sports and CBS, this is a really sad night. CBS is the only network to reach 8 million viewers for any show. Everyone is getting Friday-level numbers.
Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money (which will drop in the finals due to ABC’s typical overrun), and Lipstick Jungle all deserve to be canceled.
Let’s put that 14.6 million for the first game in historical perspective.
Here are first game Live+SD viewerships for the last 2 World Series (both on FOX):
2007: 16.897 (Wed) Red Sox / Rockies
2006: 12.840 (Sat) Tigers / Cardinals
Hard to compare before 2006 since all we have are Live viewing numbers.
Holly, Christine’s uptick this week was indeed big, and surprised me. A few more tenths in the demo and it’s a survivor.
Old Christine breaks 8 million!
I am so happy that Old Christine has yet to faulter this season, gaining viewers every airing! I think, if it continues its growth, it could break 9 million in a months time.
Totally exciting! I hope to see a big difference in the Renew / Cancel Index for her in the next month!
It makes me sick to think Pushing Daisies could be canceled soon. Apparently no one appreciates creativity anymore.
With the Series numbers, TSCC is going to look really bad in next week’s index.
America please save Dirty Sexy Money!
REMEMBER
WEDNESDAY 10/9C on ABC START HERE
bill… (unless someone already mentioned this) the 2006 world series game 1 was a saturday… helps to know that when comparing.
“CBS is the only network to reach 8 million viewers for any show.” Except for Fox with Bones, before its baseball-induced hiatus. If I recall, the last two episodes shown had over 10 million total viewers, having gone up pretty steadily from the season premiere of over 9 million.
I hope it can continue to do well when it returns after the World Series.
Debbie, I was referring to last night, when Bones wasn’t on. You are right, Bones is normally a strong player on Wednesday.
“Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money (which will drop in the finals due to ABC’s typical overrun), and Lipstick Jungle all deserve to be canceled.”
DESERVE? As in their quality is not good enough for network TV? I’m sorry, but Pushing Daisies is far and away one of the most creative, innovative, beautifully shot, amazingly written shows that’s been on Network Television in years. And the fact that you could say that in reference to its quality really undermines pretty much any opinion you could have.
If you are referring solely to the ratings, that’s one thing. On numbers, it makes logical sense to cancel the show. But in terms of quality, a show that has such a beautiful message and such uplifting writing — when compared to some of the clinical, anesthetic, meaningless crime shows on CBS that all pull huge numbers — is significant. And it’s sad that this country can’t appreciate that. Very sad.
Steve, This is a website devoted to talking about ratings. Yes, I was referring to their simply abysmal numbers. As to Pushing Daisies: I tried it, but it was far too strong on the whimsy for me. I felt like I was watching Dora the Explorer or The Wiggles.
Wow, seriously, whooda thunk that Knight Rider would be NBCs most promising new show of the season!
Tom, “bill… (unless someone already mentioned this) the 2006 world series game 1 was a saturday… helps to know that when comparing.”
I mentioned it in my original comment
In some forums are saying that ABC has pulled Pushing Daisies!
Cool, I’m not surprised, but I want to see a link!
I think the thing that people need to understand is that the writer’s strike did irrepairable dammage to the networks. Just like the strike in the early 90’s that saw ratings take a permanent 20% hit, I think we have seen another 20% hit. When you give people an excuse to find something better to do with their time, like they did during the strike, a good portion of them won’t come back. People love their routines.
That said, I think you are wrong about Eli Stone and DSM. Eli Stone worked well getting on average 70 – 75% of Grey’s audience. That would translate to about 10-11 million viewers now. Eli Stone fits better after Grey’s. DSM does fit better after DH. It would probably do at least as well after DH that B&S does. ABC should move the Dancing results show back to 8, and put B&S on at 9, followed by Private Practice (though I think it will never be a hit…people only watch for Addison, and that will eventually fade away.) Daisies is dead. ABC needs to start over on Wed.
A couple of shows I like are on the low end of the renew/cancel index this year. You pretty much have to give up on studios keeping a show on the air just because you are a fan though. They aren’t purposedly trying to kill good shows, they just follow the Nielsen ratings. Still when shows like Family Guy and Firefly do so well after being cancelled it really makes you wonder if Nielsen doesn’t have some problems tracking younger viewers. The recent heavy skewing of some channels to only older viewers also makes me doubt the ratings. Still until something better comes around that’s what television studios will use. In the meantime I will just have to get used to Bryan Fuller never getting a show past it’s second season.
I know Pushing Daisies will be off the air Nov. 5th because the DWTS results show is pushed to Wednesday for the election. The week after that, there is an awards show on (CMAs?). Last I read, there was still a question of whether it will be pulled next week for the Obama infomercial.
Though ratings-wise things are scary for Pushing Daisies, ABC does have a displayed history of keeping shows they like on the air, as they did w/ the later seasons of Alias. Creatively PD is a good contender for Emmy nods, which is good PR for ABC.
Also, there is the production costs to consider. Judging from the small cast of core characters & non-dependence on flashy effects, my guess is the per episode costs are nowhere near as much as Knight Rider, Lost, or Heroes. I wouldn’t give PD the final touch of death just yet.
I’m really happy that OLD CHRISTINE is gaining viewers. I really want it to keep this 8 million or even grow. That depends on CBS, I hope they keep it in one place and stop changing its timeslot.
Even if the other show (gary unmarried) doesn’t survive, I hope CBS keeps the wednesday comedy block.
Kyle, Everything I’ve read indicates that Pushing Daisies is quite expensive (compared to regular hour-long dramas).
I think it’s a shame that a good show like Pushing Daisies is about to get canceled while a really crappy show like Knight Rider is still pulling ratings that I cannot explain it’s just really messed up what shows people watch and do not watch these days
Robert, Bill, and Julia, I know that we have already talked about the Eli Stone ratings yesterday. Well, now since you got the latest results on Dirty Sexy Money and the Pushing Daisies ratings/key demos, wouldn’t you say that Eli Stone did better last night in its second episode than both of these shows? Are the chances looking better for Eli Stone right now?
I have an mp3 on my disk, too bad I’ve no idea where I got it. Anyway, it’s an interview with Josh Friedman (showrunner of Terminator) at Comic-Con, and he’s saying that Terminator and Pushing Daisies have the same budget. Is it possible? And what does it mean, that the TSCC budget is low or that the PD budget is high, or both?
False alarm.. it was a joke! about ABC pulling PD.
btw, the productions cost for PD maybe are the same for Lost but Lost had won Emmys and Golden Globes, Best Drama and Best Actor the last year. I cant say the same about PD.
^^And Lost does well in the ratings. I can’t say the same about PD.
PD was deservedly among the top award contenders for last Golden Globe/Emmy nominations, 3 Globe noms and additionally several Emmy nominations from which it won 3, one of which was Directing. When you take the comedy genre specifically as which it is promoted as, there weren’t many who did as best on their first year.
Facts speak for themselves. As does the obvious detail that american people wouldn’t notice quality even if it would bite them from behind. At this point I wouldn’t blame networks anymore, they can’t help if “entertainment” they provide goes to deaf ears…
What exactly is the “average” cost for an hour long drama? I’ve seen numerous comments about how certain shows are more expensive than others, but no one has ever produced an average price tag that these shows are exceeding. So, PD is more expensive than what?
Gary Unmarried just received an order for 4 more scripts. It’s also getting a one-shot run behind 2 1/2 Men. Next Monday will be all-repeats for the CBS comedies, so it will be a rerun of GU behind a rerun of 2 1/2 Men, but that will still give it a better lead-in (and sampling) than it’s ever gotten on Wednesday.
http://www.thrfeed.com/2008/10/cbs-orders-four.html
before everyone starts waving the cancelation flag on pushing daisies remember what James Hibberd said about daisies. Chances are it will get a run on a different date probably friday where if it can put up the same numbers would probably get a renewal.
@Julia, generally I really don’t think the performance of Pushing Daisies and DSM helps out Eli Stone much. Eli has a much better lead in than DSM, and Eli had about a 10% better 18-49 rating. It might help though because depending on what ABC has in its development queue it may not be as quick to nix *all* of them, but soley based on ratings (no comment on quality) all three shows seem to merit cancelation.
Unfortunately I think as simple a mistake as not airing a preview for PD last week hurt it big time. I don’t know about the rest of you, but if I watch a TV show this time of year and there’s no preview for next week’s episode, what do I think? That there won’t be a new episode next week. I’m big enough a fan of PD to know exactly whether there will be a new ep each week, but I’m sure casual fans don’t do that. If it was for example Fringe, a show I think is okay, but not great, I probably wouldn’t do the extra due diligence to make sure a new ep was on the next week.
@Mike G. – As far as it goes for production cost on a one hour show, it’s hard to put an “average” price tag on it, cause it really depends on the show. First and foremost, film or digital? That’s seems to be the question these days, it makes a substantial difference. It also depends on cast size, as well as “stars”. If you have a large cast or a “name” on the show, thats gonna jack the price up. Even for people you wouldn’t consider to be famous. As much as SAG likes to complain they make pretty good money. Another concern of course is Special Effects/VFX (if your talking a show like 24 or Heroes, that makes a difference. Unfortunately, explosions and super powers are not cheap.) You’ve also gotta count the producers/creators in the mix, the more shows under their belt, the more money they get.
Bottom line…For a 1HR Drama that shoots on film, I’d say BALLPARK around 1.2 to 1.5 per episode. On digital maybe 950K-1.2. Some shows go up to 2.0 of even 2.5 million, hard to believe but its true. Again, BALLPARK based on shows I’ve worked on.
It also depends on the relationship b/w the production and the broadcasting companies. On a show produced and broadcast on fox like 24, you can consider a chunck of the budget as being soft money, meaning, if the show rents space/equipment from company thats broadcasting it, it’s basically moving money around, not spending it. When the broaddcasting company “buys” the final cut, well you get the idea. On the other hand, you get a show produced by one company and broadcast on another it’s a different story. Hope this makes sense.
It would seem that I have way too much time on my hands.
LG, for what it’s worth, we appreciate the input.
Even though Lipstick Jungle is an NBC Universal production I would be very surprised if NBC kept it during November sweeps. Maybe Medium or Law&Order might get an earlier launch date.
As far as the young male demo that Knight Rider delivers is very important to all networks since those demos are considered very difficult to get. But in Rider’s case they are so puny it doesn’t even matter. But then again is not as if NBC has anything else to put there.
Ok, first off:
WHO IS THIS CHICK HOLLY?! SHE NEEDS TO STOP HATING ON MY PD. OK, HOLLY? JUST TAKE SOME MIDOL.
Second,
I think this Rob guy is an idiot, personally. He doesnt know EXACTLY what the networks are going to do with their shows, these networks have made statements yet or anything. So you can take some midol too!
Ok, first off:
WHO IS THIS CHICK HOLLY?! SHE NEEDS TO STOP HATING ON MY PD. OK, HOLLY? JUST TAKE SOME MIDOL.
Second,
I think this Rob guy is an idiot, personally. He doesnt know EXACTLY what the networks are going to do with their shows, these networks have not made statements yet or anything. So you can take some midol too!
(not)sorry for all these posts,
i had to make a small correction.
Liah, calm down. Holly is not “hating” on PD. She is discussing the ratings, which are not pretty at all. I am a fan of the show and would say the exact same things.
Liah, While I do not care for Pushing Daisies, I don’t dislike it either. I do understand that there are people who do enjoy the show, but the fact remains that the numbers are just too low to justify keeping it on the air.
LG: Thanks for the insights. With that said, it now completely mystifies how people are then reaching conclusions that a show like PD or TSCC is more money than another show (the other show is never mentioned in said postings), especially since no one is offering a cost per episode. Although, I can understand about the special effects being more in a show like TSCC. I would just love to have a true basis of comparison. It seems like a sweeping generalization to say that one show costs more than another given the fact that there are so many variables involved.
CBS has got to be delighted with “Old Christine” and “Gary Unmarried.” It is very unusual for ratings to keep going up week over week. It was brilliant counter-programming and they are establishing a comedy block on Wednesday as they always wanted. It seems CBS’s only problems are “Worst Week” and “The Ex-List,” but those shows would probably be safe if they aired on one of the other networks.
My two most favorite shows this year are Pushing Daisies and Bones. Both shows are on at the same time which means I have to download Bones on ITunes (PD begs for a big 27″ screen). I’m particularly worried for PD because it’s numbers jumped up when Bones went on hiatus two weeks ago. I have to wonder if they share the same audience. (Bones has been drop kicked into more different time slots than any other series, IMHO).
Looks like CSI: NY might actually be getting some competition this fall:
http://www.thrfeed.com/2008/10/nbc-schedule-sh.html
That’s awesome! Unlike some, I *like* the new and improved wacky boss.
It will be interesting to see how it does. It started out really well last season, but it was up against strike-induced repeats. With the exception of Jessie Martin’s last episode, it didn’t fare as well once CSI: NY came back (dropping to 8.5 million/2.6). Still, that’s better than a lot of what NBC has this season. It will loose to CSI: NY, but it will also hurt it.
I’m more excited about the peacocks favoring Life over Lipstick Jungle. I’m sure Bill will be happy with the return of L & O, but even last year the original was a franchise “also-ran” compared to offspring SVU.
Were we talking about two different shows? I’ve never seen life and haven’t seen L&O forever, so I think I guessed the wrong show.
Pushing Daises is a gem of a show with its talented actors and actresses and tremendously gifted writers, but the only things that’s might save it now are its critical accolades and a possible move to Fridays at 8pm. The only problem with that is that both Wife Swap and Supernanny continue to grow in the ratings each week. So, a move may not be an option at all. I’m also wondering about several of the reality ratings hits ABC developed during the strike shortened tv season. Oprah’s Big Give, Here Come The Newlyweds, and Bruno vs Carrie Ann: Dance War all delievered solid ratings. Dance War would fit in nicely on Tuesdays before DWTS Elimination show and the Newlyweds show would be a great lead in to Private Practice, the only solid show on Wednesday nights for ABC. Dirty Sexy Money has potential to close out the night but LOST can always fill that void if it fails.
well it’s clear that every new show on NBC has failed except Knight Rider. Oh and I don’t remember who said it, but I doubt PD costs as much as Lost.
PD is a great show with adequate actors. That is the problem, the random viewer that tunes in doesn’t stay to watch that person, even if they missed half the show. They all lack that “it” quality that makes an good actor a star. Sometimes even a bad actor a star…
All the beauty of PD, the lighting, the sets is as expensive to set up as the special effects of TSCC.The bee scene probably cost more than an explosion.So to offset costs WBTV went cheap on the cast. Not that they aren’t doing a good job, they are, but the cheap cast without star quality, is now costing them dearly. They can’t keep transient viewers on long enough to get hooked.
S, I disagree. I don’t think TV shows need star power the way movies do. Whatever reason people aren’t watching PD, it’s not because a big name is not in it.
I think star power can get people to tune in initially. I know that I tried Cane largely because of the stellar cast (didn’t stay though because the writing left a lot to be desired). S would have a point if the numbers were low from the beginning, but PD’s problem isn’t that people didn’t try it, it’s that people who have tried it didn’t stay with it.